Afghanistan: Harrier Deployment

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The United Kingdom is committed to helping the Afghan people rebuild their country as a stable, prosperous and democratic nation free from terrorism. Our deployment of the Helmand Task Force, announced by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 26 January, is a major part of that commitment. So is our detachment of six Harrier GR7 aircraft based in Kandahar, which have made an invaluable contribution to the success of both the coalition and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) missions.
	Following requests from both NATO and coalition commanders, we have agreed to extend their deployment initially from June 2006 to 31 March 2007. Working alongside allied aircraft, primarily from the Netherlands and the United States, they will continue to provide the ISAF with a reconnaissance capability, an air presence to reassure the Afghan people of their security and the capacity to strike against insurgents who may threaten the safety of our Armed Forces and those under their protection. They will also be available to support coalition forces. As now, the detachment will initially be drawn from No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron, Royal Air Force. In October 2006, however, the Royal Air Force will hand over the task to 800 Naval Air Squadron, in the first operational deployment of the Fleet Air Arm's Harrier GR7 squadrons.

Armed Forces: Personnel Deployed Overseas

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	In a Written Answer of 19 December (Official Report, Commons, col. 2333W) I provided details of the number of personnel deployed overseas on operations. I regret that some of the information was incorrect; the table below corrects the original Answer. The data collected are from manual records 1 and show that on 7 December 2005 the following numbers of service personnel were deployed on operations overseas.
	
		
			 Country Service Personnel 
			 Afghanistan 820 
			 Bahrain2 350 
			 Bosnia-Herzegovina 760 
			 Cyprus 3,380 
			 Diego Garcia 40 
			 Democratic Republic of Congo 10 
			 Georgia 10 
			 Gibraltar 569 
			 Iraq 7,580 
			 Kosovo 190 
			 Liberia - 
			 Qatar 270 
			 Sierra Leone 10 
			 South Atlantic3 1,460 
			 Sudan - 
			 USA 30 
		
	
	1 Data are based on personnel reports collated manually from operational deployments, and may not include all current operations. Figures include UK Regular Forces and Reserve Forces.
	2 Includes personnel stationed on ships in the Gulf region.
	3 Includes Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands.
	When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in five have been rounded to the nearest 20 to prevent systematic bias.
	- Denotes less than five.
	Location statistics for service personnel may also be compiled based on posted location rather than deployed location. Posted location is where an individual is permanently based.
	The numbers of personnel posted to each location abroad are shown in Tri-Service Publication 6, Global Location of UK Regular Forces (TSP 6). TSP 6 is published quarterly; the most recent publication shows the numbers of service personnel at 1 October 2005.

Crime: Unduly Lenient Sentences Order 2006

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Fiona Mactaggart) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On Friday 21 April, the Government laid an order before Parliament which will extend the Attorney-General's powers with regard to unduly lenient sentences. Under Part 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the Attorney-General's powers apply to sentences imposed in the Crown Court for any offence triable only on indictment, and any either-way offence which has been specified for the purpose in an order. The present order will enable a range of either-way offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to be referred to the Court of Appeal where it is considered that an unduly lenient sentence has been imposed. The offences in question are specified in paragraph 3 of schedule 1 to the order. The order also consolidates the four previous orders of its kind, which are repealed, and updates the application of the unduly lenient sentence powers to Northern Ireland. It comes into force on 16 May, and will apply to any sentence imposed on or after that date.

Fuel Smuggling: Northern Ireland

Lord Rooker: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Angela Smith) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	This Statement sets out how my department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment intends to take forward action to help combat losses due to fuel smuggling in Northern Ireland. Honourable Members will be aware that the loss to HM Treasury due to smuggling of non-duty paid fuels amounts to some £245 million per annum.
	It was against this backdrop that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, when asked to consider what steps might be taken to ensure a robust and consistent enforcement of petroleum licensing conditions across Northern Ireland proposed that the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), which is the regional authority for health and safety at work, might assume responsibility for petroleum licensing.
	This move would see HSENI having responsibility for "policing" the entire fuel oils supply chain. This would be a logical step as it already has direct responsibility for bulk fuel oil storage at harbour terminals and for its transport by road tankers—adding retail petrol stations would complete the chain. This proposal is strongly supported by the Organised Crime Task Force in Northern Ireland.
	Such a move would permit a more consistent and robust approach to enforcement. It would also allow for a more targeted approach to inspection, provide a single point of contact for the other key agencies involved and lay the foundations of an audit trail as well as improve intelligence generally.
	Government will now consult on this proposal, which could, among other things, involve amendments to the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929. Depending on the duration of any consultation on the legislation, this transfer (change) in responsibilities could be achieved in nine to 12 months.
	I am pleased to be able to commend this proposal to the House. I am confident that, subject to the completion of a robust consultation process with the local authorities in Northern Ireland, and the allocation of the necessary resource, it would deliver an effective tool to reduce the losses and help bring an end to criminal activity in this area.

House of Lords: Broadcasting

Lord Brabazon of Tara: On 13 February (WS 54–55) I announced in a Written Statement that the Information Committee had agreed to a trial of a new protocol on filming in the Chamber which would relax the rules and conventions that govern what the broadcasters can film when the House is sitting. I set out the terms of the new protocol in my Written Statement.
	In light of favourable reports from the broadcasters on the outcome of the trial, the Information Committee has recently agreed that the new protocol should now be made permanent.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr Charles Clarke) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have today written to the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee to inform it that, to the best of my knowledge, between February 1999 and March 2006, 1,023 foreign national criminals, who should have been considered for deportation or removal, completed their prison sentences and were released without any consideration of deportation or removal action. This is deeply regrettable and I wish to outline in this Statement how we intend to improve our performance.
	Since June 1996 the foreign national prisoner population has risen from 4,259 to the figure of 10,265 at the end of February 2006. This includes those detainees held in the three Prison Service-run removal centres of Dover, Haslar and Lindholme. But the arrangements for identifying them and considering removal from the UK have not kept pace with that growth. Our policy has always been to consider serious offenders for deportation before release—or if that is not possible to make a decision about immigration detention, electronic monitoring or restriction orders before release. Beyond some changes to appeal rights, the process for dealing with deportation of foreign national prisoners has not changed fundamentally in recent years. However, it is clear that the increasing numbers of cases being referred for consideration led to the process falling down.
	Over the course of the past year we have been making significant improvements to the system for identifying, referring and caseworking foreign national prisoners to ensure that we have a robust system to handle this group effectively. We are increasing resources in this area which will provide, amongst other things, a significant increase in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's (IND) caseworking capacity. This increase will allow us to commence deportation proceedings 12 months before the prisoner is due for release, which is the earliest point at which case law currently allows for consideration to commence and will ensure that suitable prisoners are removed from the country at the appropriate point of their sentence.
	IND is working with other relevant government departments to continue to strengthen the handling of these prisoners. This includes consideration of the sentencing options and improvements in identifying and processing of these prisoners to ensure that as many are removed from the United Kingdom as soon as possible.
	I will also bring together the key players from the departments involved at least twice a year at ministerial level and quarterly at senior official level to create and take ownership of an effective strategy for dealing with these issues.
	It is clear that there has been a failure on our part to deal with all the cases we should have. That failure has been identified in part due to the strengthening of the system for identifying foreign national prisoners and there is now a package of initiatives under way to strengthen this area of business.
	My aim is to ensure that the foreign national population is managed effectively and proactively, ensuring that the number of people held in prisons under immigration powers is kept to the absolute minimum and that we have the sentencing powers and identification referral and caseworking systems in place to consider and action deportation procedures for every foreign national prisoner who has committed a serious crime, and that we are in a position to effect removal at the earliest point of release.